The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East

by Tryggve N.D. Mettinger

"Dying and Rising Gods"--a detailed critique of the scholarly consensus! Tammuz, Osiris, Baal, and Adonis are well-known from J.G. Frazer's Golden Bough. These gods have been a hotly debated issue for a whole century. During the 1990's, a consensus developed to the effect that the "dying and rising gods" died but did not return or rise to new life. In the first monograph on the whole issue subsequent to the studies by Frazer and Baudissin, professor Tryggve N.D. Mettinger offers a detailed critique of this position. The work is based on a fresh perusal of the source material from the ancient Near East, the Greco-Roman world, and Egypt. It profits from new finds of great importance. Modern theory in comparative religion and anthropology on the nature of rite and myth informs the discussion. The author concludes that Dumuzi, Baal, and Melqart were dying and rising gods already in pre-Christian times and that Adonis and Eshmun may well have been so too. After his magisterial presentation of the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean material, the author provides some succinct notes on the resurrection of Jesus in the light of his findings.

The author, Tryggve N.D. Mettinger, is professor of Hebrew Bible at Lund University, Sweden, and a member of the Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, Stockholm.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, History, Christian

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 2001

Reviews

[Ginger Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic and fairly comprehensive. As the author shows, dying and rising deities were common throughout the Ancient Near East -- so common, in fact, as to be almost a cliché. Every culture seemed to have one, and they existed as far back as ancient Sumer (that is, about 2000 BCE, or even earlier). 

Nonetheless, as the author wryly notes, "One _sometimes_ notes in the research certain evasive strategies designed to avoid the conclusion that the notion of dying and rising deities might be a pre-Christian phenomenon. Ancient Near Eastern gods are freely granted the privilege of rising or returning -- as long as they behave like gentlemen and do not do so before Christ." 

Interestingly, the author does not discuss the cult of Romulus/Quirinus, from which the gospel authors seem to have borrowed freely. For more on this, see Richard C. Miller's "Mark's Empty Tomb and Other Translation Fables in Classical Antiquity," in the _Journal of Biblical Literature_ (2010).

Early Christians such as Origen and Justin Martyr were well aware of the parallels between Jesus and earlier gods, of course. But then time loped on, the Roman Empire fell, and much history was forgotten for centuries. When scholars began digging it up again and tracing the development of Christianity, the results were discomfiting to believers -- and gave rise to a host of faith-based efforts to ignore the obvious. Martians observing Earth would be amused.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a four star book if it were more readable to a general audience. Filled with great information, but written in a style that would never appeal to the average reader picking up a text about a subject like this for the first time, wanting to consume this kind of information.

Warning: Spoilers!

Baal

The Baal cycle shows us a storm god who does battle with death and chaos, only to die, then to come back to life. His life is associated with the seasons and ritually his life is portrayed in temples in Canaan before the time of the Exodus (1500-1200 BCE). Mettinger cites a paper by W.H. Schmidt (1963) where the main ideas of the Baal cycle are as follows: The descent of Baal into the Netherworld, the cessation of rain and fertility, the mourning of the gods, and the goddess’s search for the dead god Baal. Schmidt finds the “same basic sequence in the myth of Osiris.” (Mettinger, p. 35)

He further explains Baal’s myth starting on page 57:

After the installation of the window in Baal's palace, Baal sends messengers to Mot (1.4.VII: 42ff.). They are to go down to the House of Freedom and be counted among the dead (1.4.VIII: 7-9). Exactly what Baal's message to Mot (Mot is death) is not clear. I believe that it is found in 1.4.VII: 49-52: "I alone am the one who can be king over the gods, who can fatten gods and men, who can satisfy the multitudes of the earth!" This interpretation is attractive, since Baal probably had something to say to Mot, but it is still open to debate. The messengers return to Baal with descriptions of Mot's appetite and an invitation for Baal to descend to the Netherworld. Baal now quickly responds to this and expresses his submission to Mot: "Your servant I am, and yours forever" (1.5.II: 12). Mot renews his invitation: "And you, take your clouds, your winds, your bolts, your rains ... " (l.S.V: 6-8). When Baal hears this he decides to procure progeny. He mounts a heifer and begets offspring (l.S.V: 17ff).

After a gap of some forty lines, a lost passage that probably contained information of essential interest to our enquiry, the text goes on to describe how Baal's death is announced to Eland is mourned by him. The rites of mourning are described in detail for both El and Anat ( l.S.VI-1.6.1: 8). Anat and Shapsh together search for Baal and find his dead body. With the help of Shapsh, Anat carries the corpse to Mt Sapan, where Baal is buried (1.6.1: 8-31). Anat reports to El and Athirat that Baal is dead, and the couple start discussing the question of a replacement for Baal. Athtar is finally chosen but finds himself insufficient (1.6.1: 32-67). Anat proceeds to confront Mot directly. She seizes him by the hem of his garment and beseeches him to release Baal to her. Mot tells Anat how he swallowed Baal (Baal is swallowed by death). Then follows the description of Anat' s harsh treatment of Mot:

With a sword she splits him,
With a sieve she winnows him.
With a fire she bums him,
With millstones she grinds him,
In a field she sows him (1.6.Il: 30-35).

Following this comes the description of El's dream-vision, by which he is able to determine that Baal has returned to life. The beginning of the autumn rains was the decisive sign (l.6.III). On behalf of El, Anat points out to Shapsh that the furrows of the fields are still parched. Shapsh promises to seek Baal (1.6.III: 22- IV: 24). Finally, col. V presents Baal's return to his throne (11. 1-6).

The rest of cols. V and VI seem to deal with a new conflict between Baal and Mot, taking place in the "seventh" year (V: 8-9). 18 A battle between Baal and Mot for supremacy is described (VI: 16-22). Upon the intervention of Shapsh, Mot capitulates: "Let Baal be enthroned on [his] royal [throne,] I On [the resting place], [the throne] of his dominion" (VI: 33-35). A passage about Shapsh ruling the Rephaim follows (VI:45-53), and then the colophon concludes the column. (p.57-58)

To me I see the battle between Baal and Mot (and Yamm=Sea) as something akin to the battle between Baal (the son of El), god of thunder and Mot (death)/Yamm (sea/chaos) as a precursor to everything going on in the Old Testament with Yahweh, god of storms and the universe (see the similarities between Baal and Yahweh in Psalm 29 in the scholarly literature) and Mot (death) and Yamm (chaos/sea). God defeats death. God swallows the swallower. “He will swallow up death in victory (netzach) and the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25.8). After quoting Isaiah 53 to Noah and his priests in the city of Nephi (in Mosiah 14), and after speaking of Christ being subjected unto death as his will was swallowed up in the will of the Father (Mosiah 15:2), Abinadi went on to declare to the priests the coming redemption of Christ and testified to them that, through it, “death is swallowed up in Christ” (Mosiah 16:8).

To the ancients, Baal’s story helped them see why seasons existed. In Mettinger’s words:
Baal's fates draw on the seasonal changes. His absence causes the summer drought. The onset of the autumn rains is the proof of his return. The Baal-Mot myth is a paradigm and etiology for the seasonal changes. The seasonal aspect of Baal's fates is found both in the Baal cycle and in KTU 1.12. In this last-mentioned text, the mythological section serves to provide legitimization for the water libation mentioned at the end of the text (p. 81).

Melqart (Tyre) & Hercules

Mettinger tells us that Melqart was a Phoenician deity whose name means “Lord of the great city” or “Lord of the Netherworld” (p. 85). He was head of a pantheon of gods at Tyre anciently. Melqart had a temple in Tyre built during the 10th century BCE. There are two traditions of his death, in one Melqart is killed by a monster, and in another he dies on a pyre on a mountain (p. 97). Melqart's death and resurrection were the focus of cultic celebration. Both the Greek and Phoenician title of the functionary involved witness to this. The Greek name of the celebration was ἔγερσις "awakening". It seems probable that this ritual took place annually (p. 110). Mettinger points to Melqart as a positive hit for a dying and rising god, however, he states that it is not conclusive that Melqart descends from Baal (p. 110).

From the 4th century BCE the Greeks identified Melqart with Hercules, a hero and a god (it is complicated) who also dies and comes back to life.

Adonis (Greek) from Adonai (Lord – Hebrew)

Adonis is the son of mortal parents (p. 114), worshipped in private cults and in the cult of Aphrodite, he dies, is mourned as a dead hero, is buried, and his tomb is known (p. 114). His name is associated with the Hebrew word for Lord (p. 126).

Adonis and Bilocation

In classical mythology there are two contradictory versions of Adonis' death. According to one, the young hunter Adonis was killed by a boar. The same motif is also found in the Attis myth, where it has been judged to be a late imitation of the Adonis myth. According to the other and probably older myth that Apollodorus cites from Panyassis (early fifth century B.C.E.), Adonis, the newborn child, for the sake of his beauty, was hid in a chest by Aphrodite and entrusted to Persephone, the consort of Hades-Pluton. When Persephone refused to give him back, the dispute was resolved by Zeus: the year was divided into three parts and Zeus ordained that Adonis should stay by himself for one part of the year, with Persephone for another, and with Aphrodite for the remainder of the year. Since Adonis left his own share to Aphrodite, the result is that he spent one third of the year in the Netherworld and two thirds on earth. I shall call this the myth of "bilocation". The notion of bilocation is thus a succinct expression for the annual descent-and-return fertility cycle (p. 118-119). Bilocation, according to Mettinger, matters for a couple of reasons. 1) It stands in tension with the Greek notion of a borderline between the realm of the Gods and the realm of the dead. And 2), It has clear precedents in the Semitic world (p. 119-120).

Adonis was associated with Osiris, another god who dies and then rises (p. 124). Adonis was discussed in writings of Origen when he said that the Greeks also called Adonis Tammuz, “The god whom the Greeks call Adonis is called Tammuz, as they say, among the Jews and among the Syrians ... They seem to perform some sort of initiation rites every year, first, because they bewail him as if he were dead, and second, because they rejoice on his behalf as if he had risen from the dead. Those who are knowledgeable about the deeper interpretation of the Greek myths and what is called mythic theology say that Adonis is the symbol of the fruits of the earth, which are mourned when they are sown, but which rise, thereby causing joy among the farmers when they [the seeds] grow up. (Mettinger’s translation of Selecta in Ezechielem VIII, 12).

He thus associates Tammus with Adonis (p. 129). He also quotes Jerome (who lived in Bethlehem from 386 CE onward) discussing many of the same issues.

Adonis rites and Rooftops

Evidence exists that Adonis had rites that were practiced anciently on rooftops. Mettinger tells readers that “Sacral activities that take place on the roof are an oddity in Greek religion but are more common in the Canaanite world (p. 127-128). He cites 2 Kings 23.12; Jeremiah 19.13; 32.29; 48.38; Zephaniah 1.5 and Isaiah 15.3 for this.

Adonis was a god that dies and is resurrected. The idea that Adonis’ death and resurrection, of his descent to the Netherworld and his return from there was a paradigm for life and vegetation is important (p. 130).

Syncretism

Adonis was closely tied to Byblos, and Mettinger points to the possibility that all of these ideas could have been connected. He writes, “The proximity of Adon(is), Damu and Dumuzi should alert us to the possibility that Byblos was a site where Adon(is) was part of a syncretistic development in which he adopted features originally connected with the Sumerian and Akkadian myths of journeys to the Netherworld” (p. 144).

Eshmun – Asclepius

Eshmun or Esmounos is described as a young god, and he and Ashtart are known as the divine couple of Sidon in 5th century BCE (p. 156). He describes Eshmun as a city god of Sidon. He also states that “the question whether Eshmun was a dying and rising deity is difficult to answer… it is then possible, but not proved, that Eshmun was a dying and rising god already during the centuries before the Christian era” (p. 165).

Osiris

The dead king had taken upon himself the name of the god Osiris, thus enabling him to be able to rise in the afterlife. From Mettinger we read, “everyone (originally only the king), after his transfiguration, became Osiris-so-and-so, so that his personal name became Osiris-N” (p. 174). Although Osiris does get resurrected, he does not remain on the earth among mortals. After his resurrection, he goes to the Netherworld (p. 179). In the festival of Osiris, the death and resurrection of Osiris are the most central features of this festival. Osiris' burial takes place during Khoiak 24-30 (Khoiak was the 4th month of the ancient Egyptian calendar. It lasted between 10 December and 8 January). The festival concluded with the erection of the Djed pillar as a visible emblem of Osiris' resurrection.

From the New Kingdom and onwards there is a close connection between Osiris and the Djed pillar; the Djed pillar is even anthropomorphized as Osiris. The motif of resurrection is also symbolized by the Osiris gardens or Osiris effigies that were produced during the Khoiak festival (p. 182).

To me, the story of Osiris, his death and battle with Set, and Isis’ search and resurrection of Osiris have multiple parallels with Christ. Enemies of Christianity have gone to great lengths to demonstrate the association between Osiris and Christ.

Dummuzi

Dummuzi, a mortal who became a husband of a goddess (p.198), “becomes” a god, though of human origin, he is a mortal ruler who becomes the husband of the goddess and is essentially a divinized king (p. 212). Dummuzi, a Sumerian vegetation god, was associated with shepherds and was attached to Ishtar (or Inanna). Dummuzi was known before Sargon of Akkad (2334 BCE-2279 BCE). Dummuzi dies and this is associated with the rites that depict the “treatment of grain” (p. 202). His death is when the roasted barley is cast upon the stones and the women lament for him. While Dummuzi is no “great god like Baal,” he is associated with grain and the seasonal cycle like Baal (208-209).

Syncretism – The Blending of Ideas, Rituals, and Symbols

Several times throughout the book Mettinger emphasizes that syncretism was going on all over in the ancient world. He states that the gods analyzed in his study are “of very different types,” but are all associated through syncretism in the ancient world (p. 218). Ideas about Osiris were used to better express Adonis, and Baal symbolism could have blended with ideas about Osiris, and so forth. Things were being mixed together (see p. 44). He writes, “…ancient Near Eastern gods integrated into the symbolical universe of Greek religion may have undergone important changes” (p. 460).

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the start of the twentieth century, James G. Frazer, an early anthropologist of religion, categorized several Near Eastern deities, especially Adonis, Attis, and Osiris, as "dying-and-rising gods": deities who die and return to life as a mythical reflection of the annual death and reemergence of crops. Frazer's overgeneralizing approach was reminiscent of other Victorian efforts to find the Key to All Mythologies, so it's not surprising that in the latter half of the century, the category came under scholarly attack. The idea that all these deities fit a single pattern can distort our understanding of the evidence. Agricultural fertility may not have been the defining or original trait of all the deities in question, and the individual myths have major differences. (For instance, to this day it is sometimes claimed that Osiris was originally a fertility god, even though J. Gwyn Griffiths demonstrated decades ago that his connection with vegetation does not appear in the Old Kingdom evidence and may not have arisen until the Middle Kingdom.) By the end of the century, many scholars even argued that the deities in question either did not actually die in their mythology or did not return to the world of the living—except in very late Roman sources that were influenced by Christianity.

No scholar today would defend the kind of sweeping generalizations Frazer made, but Mettinger focused on the second type of attack: the argument that the deities did not die and rise at all. He reexamined the evidence in the cases of Baal of Ugarit, Melqart, Adonis, Eshmun, Osiris, and Dumuzi. (He devoted little space to Attis, apparently on the assumption that his death and resurrection have been conclusively shown to be post-Christian developments, although Jaime Alvar later argued otherwise.) Mettinger concluded that there was a pre-Christian death and resurrection for Baal, Melqart, and Dumuzi, while leaving the question open in the case of Adonis and Eshmun. But he reminds us "one should not hypostasize these gods into a specific type 'the dying and rising god'." Osiris and Dumuzi were originally funerary and shepherding deities, respectively, rather than fertility gods; Osiris lived again but did not return to our world.

Because the evidence about the Near Eastern deities is often fragmentary and unclear, this book will be most relevant to someone studying them—e.g., Mettinger's interpretation of the texts about Baal, countering Mark S. Smith's interpretation of those same texts. But the book is also an important reminder of the difficulties in comparing myths across cultures.

A lot of people will look to this book for what it says about the influence of dying and rising deities on Christian beliefs about the resurrection of Jesus, but they won't find very much. Mettinger was trying to escape the pro- and anti-Christian biases that often distort this subject. The deities must first be understood on their own terms rather than in relationship to Christianity. A better book for this kind of comparison would be Iesus Deus by M. David Litwa, which focuses on classical myths of humans like Heracles and Romulus who started off as mortals and became divine upon death—myths that are more similar to, and more plausible influences on, the Christian tradition.